ORC hosting water management workshops

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The Otago Regional Council (ORC) is continuing to meet with communities around the region as part of its catchment minimum flow setting process.

A workshop on the Waikouaiti River is being held on Wednesday, April 16 from 7pm to 9pm at the East Otago Events Centre, Waikouaiti.

ORC director policy, planning, and resource management Fraser McRae said the workshop will consider a minimum flow option and allocation limits recommended for the river.

Early next month the ORC is hosting two minimum flow workshops in South Otago. The first of which, on the Waiwera River, is on Tuesday, May 6 from 1pm to 3pm at the Clinton Community Hall.

Mr McRae said this workshop will consider options for a minimum flow and allocation regime for future management of the Waiwera catchment, and ORC staff will advise the community about the process for setting minimum flows.

Meanwhile, a similar minimum flow community workshop on the Pomahaka catchment takes place on the same day from 7pm to 9pm at the West Otago Community Centre, Tapanui.

These consultative processes have been under way for several years. The minimum flow sets when water cannot be taken from a catchment under low flow conditions, he said.

These workshops follow on from previous ones held around the region. So far this year they have included the Benger Burn, Cromwell terrace and Earnscleugh terrace aquifers, and the Lindis catchment.

Information from the previous workshops is available on the Minimum Flows page.